Chapter Five Hundred and Ninety-Nine – Cards on the Table

"What's got you so thrilled?" Calamity asked.

Rainnewt turned his unrestrained smile toward my friend. "Oh, nothing you need to concern yourself with."

I don't think anyone in the room believed that for even a second.

Guinevere and Tristain exchanged glances, then the woman turned her gaze back to Rainnewt, her four tails fanning out behind her.

"Whatever it is you have just realized, I expect you to start explaining. Now."

"Hm..." Rainnewt regarded her. "Give me a moment to get my thoughts in order."

Guinevere narrowed her eyes. "You understand your position, yes? You came to us as a Questor on a mission to save the World. You proposed a plan to accomplish this, and we avoided looking too closely at your misdeeds on the grounds that the World is worth it."

"I'm glad you realize that sacrifice is necessary," Rainnewt said, nodding.

"May be necessary," Guinevere corrected. "Which is exactly my point. If another plan comes along, we must weigh our options. If you believe your core-devices are superior to Master-grade Cleaning... well, you'd better have a convincing argument."

Rainnewt's smile didn't waver, but I could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"Um," I interjected. "If Rainnewt's not convincing ... what are we going to do about him?"

"What do you expect us to do?" Tristan asked. It wasn't asked in an unkind way, he sounded genuinely curious.

I had to think about it for a moment, then I shrugged. "Probably jail? Maybe some community service."

"Community service?" Rainnewt asked, incredulously.

"Like, cleaning parks and stuff?" I tried.

An ugly expression crossed Rannewt's face, like he'd just bitten into a lemon and discovered that it was an extra-sour sort of lemon, then the expression disappeared as he controlled himself. "I'd really rather not. After all, I may have committed some crimes. I'm not so arrogant as to deny that, but crimes are just a matter of words in a stuffy lawbook; surely we can overlook such trivialities when everything I did was in service of a better future."

Amaryllis, Desiree and Caprica all snorted at the exact same time.

"I don't think, uh, that's entirely true," I said.

Tristain hummed. "No, I think it is technically true. I believe that it just so happens that the better future that Mister Rainnewt is seeking is his own."

Rainnewt stared at Tristain for a while, then glanced over to all of the others. "Ah, I see. A choice was made."

"It was?" I asked.

Rainnewt openly sneered at me, and a lot of the smugness and false-kindness he'd been displaying melted away. Had he done something? Turn off a social skill or something? It felt like with a click, he'd gone bad, "Indeed. And here I thought we might have some common ground, some room for collaboration. I tried to work with you, to convince you of my virtues ... yet here you are, painting me as a foe," he said.

He was talking to Tristain directly, though the rest of us were still around.

"You did try," Tristain agreed. "I'm afraid to say that I had never truly considered you good. Not in the way that Miss Bunch here would consider someone good. Unfortunately--or perhaps fortunately--I am not as righteous of heart as some. I have worked with bad people before and may well do so again. It is as you believe, the Black Avatars are willing to do much to save the World when it is at risk. The morals of the living and the just are... ephemeral."

"Sad, isn't it?" Viviane asked. She kicked one leg up over the other to sit crosslegged and placed an elbow on her knee as she leaned forward. "Once you live a lifetime or three's worth of time, you start to notice that some things are only important because people make them out to be."

"Yeah, some things," I agreed. "But other things really are always important," I said, putting my foot down on the matter. Being a good person wasn't hard. You just had to not be bad and do to others what you'd want them to do for you. "Does this mean that you'll put Mister Rainnewt in jail?"

"There's a hefty reward for him in Sylphfree," Caprica hastened to say. "We don't mind splitting it in half."

"There's a reward for him around Port Royal as well." Amaryllis said. "And some dragons want to have a... chat. For that matter, I suspect that there's a smaller reward for him around the Harpy Mountains, and likely the Snowlands as well."

"Busy guy!" Viviane said with a laugh.

"There's no need for that," Rainnewt said, regaining his smile. "It was good to see what you really think of me, but I know you won't be arresting me at all. The argument in my favor really is that convincing."

"Confident, are you?" Tristain asked.

Rainnewt simply nodded, then leaned back and crossed his arms. "I have information that you need, and you will be requiring my assistance moving forward. Call it my trump card. I hate that I have to use it this way. Honestly, I was planning on employing it to gain several concessions from the Black Avatars. Thank you for that, Broccoli. You're making me waste one of my better cards."

"Huh?"

"Well, what is it?" Guinevere asked as she crossed her own arms.

Rainnewt glanced off to the side for a moment, then started to explain. "A bit of background first. The Evil Roots are a problem, yes, but I have resources, power, and- if I do say so myself - I can be rather charismatic if need be. I could find followers and steal the funds needed to at least start to take care of the issue."

"Sure, that's somewhat plausible," Guinevere said. "Your point being?" She flicked her tails while otherwise standing still.

"My point is that I chose to approach the Black Avatars. I needed powerful individuals on my side, because things aren't as they seem. Given six to nine months, I could have raised a decent task force to handle the Evil Roots with devices such as the one we made here. Mass produced, they'd be of lower quality, but with some governmental backing and a few incentives they could be spread about rather quickly and they'd theoretically stem the tide."

"Theoretically?" Tristain asked.

Rainnewt grinned. "Even my devices are not enough to be a true solution. Ah, the trump card... first, I need an agreement. A deal. My trump card is information, and in exchange for that, I want a guarantee that you won't betray me."

I blinked. "Uh, no?"

"Even you would say no?" Rainnewt asked. "My little bit of freedom in exchange for information that may well save the world?"

"It's worth it," Mathew said.

Guinevere's eyes shot over to him, while Tristain steepled his fingers. One of the Avatars that had been on the Stormpiercer with Rainnewt nodded to himself.

I swallowed. Faces had hardened, distance opening up between allies in a heartbeat. No one had really moved, but I suddenly felt like we'd split into two groups.

My friends were on the "don't trust the meanie" side, along with a fair number of Avatars, but the "cut a deal" side was larger than I wanted to see.

This was awful! Weren't the Avatars all supposed to be friends? Well, Guinevere had said they weren't exactly friendly, but I guess I hadn't really believed her ... they ate together and shared their burdens, right?

"Hm," Tristain observed. "It seems that some of us no longer view you as trustworthy, Rainnewt."

I couldn't tell what side Tristain was leaning toward. His expression and tone were completely indecipherable.

Rainnewt's lips quirked in amusement. "I don't need unanimous support. Just enough to ensure my safety." He glanced at Matthew, then let his eyes slide across the Avatars. "And I think I just might have it. You wouldn't really blow up your own organization over this little ... disagreement. My freedom isn't all that much to ask for, right?"

Breathing harshly, Amaryllis clamped her jaw shut to keep from screaming at him.

Rainnewt's eyes crinkled. "So. Here is my trump card. Something I have now realized that dear Captain Bunch never learned."

His expression turned deadly serious.

"The Evil Roots are not a natural occurrence."

There was a sudden rise in the tension in the library, almost literally - I felt magic surging, then being brought back under control as a whole lot of powerful people instinctively reacted. Only I didn't get it. "Uh, can anyone wanna explain why that's... important?"

Amaryllis, as usual, was quick to do just that. "He's implying that if the Evil Roots aren't a natural problem, then they're artificial. They're created. Which further implies intent."

Rainnewt nodded. "The overgrown pigeon is correct," he said.

"Albatross," Amaryllis hissed.

He waved her off. "Up-jumped seagull, at best. But in any case. You are right. Do you mind?" He pointed to the map still on the low table we were all sitting around. When no one protested he moved up to it, then frowned. He drew a little circle in the air, and a small disk of glowing magic appeared. The cast had a few moving hands onto weapons, but it didn't look like he was casting anything greater than that. "The pattern looks something like... this. Yellow-to-red, with red being the most recent."

He started to place little dots over known dungeon locations, and over some other spots as well. It was clear that there was a pattern forming relatively quickly. It started a little to the east of the Harpy Mountains, down by the forest along their southern border. Then the yellow deepened to orange around the north of the Harpy Mountains, near Sylphfree, and around the Darkwoods and into Mattergrove.

The reddest parts were along the southern shore of the Moonstruck Sea and into Pyrowalk. There were, in all, maybe thirty points across the map.

"These are the dungeons I was able to visit myself," he said. "And the colouration indicates the approximate time, as best I can tell, when they were infected."

"Impressive research," Tristain said. "I presume you're going somewhere with this?"

"Of course. One of the earlier dungeons I observed, I decided to... only observe. I sat within it as the Evil Roots spread, then returned every few days to observe the spread and study their impact on the dungeon. Eventually, the dungeon broke. That took nearly two months."

How long has Rainnewt been on Dirt for? I was only here for a few months. I knew he was stronger and all but... well, that much longer was concerning.

"Did you learn anything?" Mathew asked.

Rainnewt nodded, and his smugness faded. "I did. Two things of note. First, the roots will destroy a dungeon core eventually. What happens at that moment, I still don't know, but I have a suspicion, and it's related to the second fact. "During my observations, I noticed that the roots were transmitting mana."

He paused for a moment, seeming to gather his thoughts. In the corner of my eye, Guinevere raised an eyebrow.

"At first, I reasoned that it must be something like a nervous system - a control mechanism suited for such a large organism, perhaps even communication between distant infected dungeons." He paused. "But then I realized the mana was only ever leaving the roots. I didn't detect any return signals."

"So, the roots are sending mana somewhere," Tristain surmised. "That's important information, but there must be more to it. That doesn't prove the roots are unnatural."

Rainnewt looked smug. "Of course. That came next: I realized that the transmission mechanism was ... familiar."

Matthew rubbed his chin. "How so?"

"I am sure everyone here is acquainted with banking rings," Rainnewt said.

I glanced at Amaryllis hand. She'd reflexively raised it, staring at the ring glinting on her talon.

"You may not know this, but banking rings can be used to transmit mana," Rainnewt went on. "Not efficiently, mind you, but if you have enough mana, efficiency doesn't matter so much." He made a grasping gesture. "The Evil Roots use the exact same mechanism, a mechanism that is known to be completely artificial, to funnel raw mana to a specific location."

He swept a hand over the map, and tiny white sparks, like glitter, started to rise from the dots that represented dungeons.

Another gesture, and an oblong bead of light dripped from his hand to drift over the map. The glitter immediately started converging on it, sucked up like a vacuum.

I sat up. I didn't like where this was going.

"The Evil Roots are artificial. They're created by someone, or curated at the very least, and spread purposefully. The person or persons responsible are using them as a means of sapping a small, but consistent amount of magic from every infected dungeon. And small is relative here, as much magic as a lower-tiered magic specialist could output consistently, at least. I also suspect that, as the one responsible in the end, they are reaping the reward for each dungeon break.

"Cleaning the Evil Roots out of a dungeon cannot eradicate them because whoever is spreading them will just keep doing that. And my devices are only a bandage because someone can just walk into the core room and tear them off."

I swallowed.

Rainnewt clapped his hands, then dozens of new, glaringly red dungeon-spots appeared and spread across the map. The oblong bead moved in a big circle, and more red dots flared around it. I think he was just guessing at dungeon locations, but... the image was stark when there were hundreds of dots on the map.

"By now, we're dealing with someone, or someones, with an exceptional amount of magical energy, and likely dozens if not hundreds of general skill points to spend. And that is why you can't do anything but help me, because if we don't do something, Dirt will be destroyed, and whatever 'evil' I may have done, is nothing compared to this."

***